Mubangizi V Uganda (Criminal Appeal 7 of 2015) 2018 UGSC 90 (19 December 2018)
The Supreme Court of Uganda is reviewing the conviction and 30-year sentence of Mubangizi Alex for the rape of a 60-year-old woman, which was upheld by the Court of Appeal. The appellant's counsel argues that the evidence was insufficient and based on hearsay, while the prosecution maintains that the victim's identification and corroborative evidence support the conviction. The court will consider the adequacy of the evidence and the legality of the sentence imposed.
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Mubangizi V Uganda (Criminal Appeal 7 of 2015) 2018 UGSC 90 (19 December 2018)
The Supreme Court of Uganda is reviewing the conviction and 30-year sentence of Mubangizi Alex for the rape of a 60-year-old woman, which was upheld by the Court of Appeal. The appellant's counsel argues that the evidence was insufficient and based on hearsay, while the prosecution maintains that the victim's identification and corroborative evidence support the conviction. The court will consider the adequacy of the evidence and the legality of the sentence imposed.
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THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF UGANDA AT KAMPALA
[CORAM: KATUREEBE, CJ; KISAAKYE, ARACH-AMOKO,
OPIO-AWERI AND TIBATEMWA-EKIRIKUBINZA, JJSC]
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 07 OF 2015
BETWEEN
MUBANGIZI ALEX..... ..APPELLANT
UGANDA.......
(An appeal arising from the judgment of the Court of Appeal (Mwangusya,
Buteera and Kakuru JJA) dated 15‘ September, 2014 in Criminal Appeal
No.0012 of 2012.)
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
This is a second appeal from the decision of the Court of Appeal
confirming the conviction and sentence of 30 years imprisonment
imposed by the High Court on the appellant, Mubangizi Alex, for the
offence of rape c/s 123 and 124 of the Penal Code Act.
Briefly, the facts which gave rise to this appeal as have concurrently
been found by the two lower courts were that on the 224 February,
2009 at about 10 am in the morning, at Kasambya village in Lyantonde
District, Nassimbwa Maria Josepher (PW2), a 60 year old woman, who
was taking care of her sick daughter who was admitted in Lyantonde
Hospital, went into a nearby eucalyptus forest to collect firewood. As
she was bending to pick firewood, a stranger whom she identified as
the appellant, (23 year old young man) approached her from behind
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and held her by her clothes. When she turned, she saw a man wearing
black trousers, a sweater and a cap on his head. He asked her why she
was gathering firewood from his plantation and threatened to arrest
her. She told him that she was gathering the firewood as others had
been doing and asked for forgiveness. He told her that he had never
caught those other people but he had caught her. He instead held her
hand and dragged her deeper into the forest where there were no people
and demanded for sex in exchange for his forgiveness. She refused and
told him that he was like her own son. Thereafter, he threw her down
and they started struggling. He overpowered her and lifted her clothes
comprising of a gomesi and a petticoat up to her chest and neck, Then
he used one hand to hold her by the neck and the other, to remove his
trousers. She tried to raise an alarm but he held her mouth and neck
and tried to strangle her. Then he proceeded to have sex with her. After
he had finished, he ran away.
PW2 returned to the hospital without the firewood that she had
gathered. She was feeling bad and was bleeding from her private parts
and felt weak. She told her daughter about the incident but she could
do nothing as she was too sick to assist her. She then told the nurse at
the hospital who gave her tablets to relieve the pain, but PW2 never
improved.
When her son Yuda Tadeo Kasibante (PW3) visited them in the hospital
three days later, she narrated to him the entire ordeal. PW3 reported
the matter to Police. PW2 was examined and treated at Lyantonde
hospital. PW3 got information that a man who was raping women had
been arrested and was being detained at Lyantonde Police Station.
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‘Thereafter, PW3 took his mother to the Police station. An identification
parade was conducted at the Police station where PW2 identified the
appellant twice from among other suspects as the man who had raped
her that fateful morning.
Consequently, the appellant was charged with the offence of rape c/s
123 and 124 of the Penal Code Act. In his unsworn statement, the
appellant denied the charges. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to
30 years imprisonment by the High Court. As earlier stated, his appeal
against the conviction and sentence was dismissed by the Court of
Appeal.
Representation
The record indicates on the 15% February 2017, a pre-hearing
conference was conducted by Justice Tibatemwa- Ekirikubinza. Mr.
Henry Rukundo appeared on behalf of the appellant on State brief while
the Respondent was represented by Principal State Attorney Okello
Richard. The appellant’s counsel was given up to the 224 February
2017 to file submissions and the respondent was given up to 28th
February to file a reply. Thereafter, the appellant’s counsel was given
up to the 7** March 2017 to file a rejoinder, if any.
However, Mr. Rukundo did not comply with the above schedule. He
instead filed both the Memcrandum of Appeal and submissions on the
28% February 2017 to which Mr. Okello filed a reply on the 3" March,
2017. This was followed by a rejoinder that Mr. Rukundo filed on 10
March 2018.15
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It appears that the appellant threafter withdrew instructions from Mr.
Rukundo and instead instructed the firm of M/s Asiimwe, Namawejje
& Co, Advocates who filed another set of Memorandum of Appeal
together with written submissions on his behalf of on the 10% March
2017. Mr. Okello then filed a supplementary reply to the said
submissions. On 14% March 2017, Ms. Susan Wakabala from the said
law firm appeared on behalf of the appellant on a private brief. Mr.
Okello represented the Respondent. They adopted their written
submissions.
The grounds of Appeal
In the Memorandum of Appeal filed by Ms. Wakabala, the appellant
raised two grounds, namely that:
1. The learned Justices of the Court of Appeal erred in law by
failing to adequately re-evaluate all material evidence relating to
the uncorroborated evidence of PW1. (sic)
2. The learned Justices of the Court of Appeal erred in law when
they upheld an illegal sentence of the lower court which was
reached basing on hearsay evidence.
Submissions of Counsel
Submitting on ground one, Ms. Wakabala contended that the learned
Justices of the Court of Appeal had failed to properly evaluate the
evidence on record as was required of them by law and as a result, they
wrongly confirmed the decision of the trial judge when there was no
other evidence to corroborate the evidence of the victim,PW2. Had they10
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done their duty properly, they would not have upheld the decision of
the trial Judge. Counsel gave the following reasons for her contention:
Firstly she argued that the evidence of PW3 concerning the arrest of the
appellant was clearly hearsay since there was no one else who had
claimed to have been raped by the appellant. She referred to the
evidence of PW3 where he stated that:
“Then I took the matter to Lyantonde police and to one Mugisha
whom I found near the forest. He told me that he was looking for
@ man who was raping women. When I mentioned to him he was
told to go to the police and report as they had arrested one man
on rape charges.”
She argued that it is not clear from the above quoted statement who
Mugisha is and why PW3 was even reporting to him.
Secondly, Ms. Wakabala submitted that the manner in which the
identification parade was carried out did not comply with the laid down
procedure in Justice B. Odoki’s Book entitled, “A Guide to Criminal
Procedure in Uganda”. The conditions include the presence of an
advocate or a friend of the accused during the identification parade; the
officer in charge of the parade should not conduct the identification
parade; the witness should not see the accused before the parade; the
accused should be placed among at least 8 persons as far as possible
cf a similar age, height and general appearance, among others.
Counsel submitted that in this case, PW3 took PW2 to the Police station
where an identification parade was carried out. PW2 stated clearly that
she was seeing the appellant for the 1s time. The other condition
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mentioned is that the appellant was placed among only 5 people for
identification, yet the law requires 8.
Thirdly, Ms. Wakabala argued that the prosecution had deliberately
refused to summon the officer who had conducted the identification
parade to testify in court. The prosecution did not even attempt to
identify Police Form 69 in court in the absence of the said Police Officer
in counsel’s view, the prosecution was hiding flaws in its case and this
cast doubt on the prosecution case which should have been held in
favour of the appellant. The Learned Justices of the Court of Appeal
quoted the decision of court in the case of Sentale vs. Uganda,
Criminal Appeal No.56 of 1968 where it held that an identification
parade was essential since the robbery had taken place at near
midnight although there was moonlight as well as street lights and the
assailant was never known to the complainant prior to the incident.
The Learned Justices also referred to the case of Ssenoga Sempala
Jafari vs. Uganda Criminal Appeal Number 34 of 2005 which
followed Sentale, where the court emphasised that failure to observe
one or two of the laid down conditions for identification does not render
the identification a nullity as long as there is much more evidence
pointing to the guilt of the appellant. She argued that the above finding
was erroneous, since there was no other evidence at all on how the
identification parade was conducted.
Based on the foregoing, Ms. Wakabala contended that apart from the
evidence of PW2, there is no other evidence at all pointing to the guilt
of the appellant. The medical evidence merely confirmed rape but did
not prove the appellant’s participation in the offence. Therefore, for the
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Court of Appeal to conclude that there was overwhelming evidence
pointing to the guilt of the appellant was erroneous.
In support of her submissions on this point, Counsel relied on the
holding of this Court in the case of Oketcho Richard vs. Uganda
Criminal Appeal No.26 of 1995(SC) where Court held that:
“Where the prosecution calls evidence barely adequate and it
appears that there are other witnesses available who are not
called, the court is entitled under the general law of evidence to
draw an inference that the evidence of those witnesses if called
would have been or tended to be adverse to the prosecution’s case.
In the present case, the prosecution failed or refused to call the
doctor that examined the complainant immediately after the
alleged assault and this should have caused the court to draw an
adverse inference that if the doctor was called, he might have
given evidence adverse to that of the prosecution.’
Counsel submitted that in that case the Supreme Court allowed the
appeal and set aside conviction of the appellant who had been
sentenced to 13 years for defilement by the High Court.
For the above reasons, Counsel prayed that the appeal be allowed, the
conviction be quashed and ihe appellant be released.
Mr. Okello on the other hand, supported the conviction of the appellant
by the learned trial judge. He submitted that the record shows that the
Learned Justices of Appeal properly re-evaluated the evidence on record
and correctly found the appellant guilty of the offence of rape. He
pointed out that the main issue in this appeal was corroboration of
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PW2’s evidence with particular reference to the participation of the
appellant. Counsel submitted that the victim at trial explained the
whole circumstance under which the appellant had raped her and she
had enough time to observe him. He submitted that the trial judge
properly evaluated the evidence and the laws applicable there under.
Likewise, the learned Justices of the Court of Appeal were aware of the
crucial nature of this case and scrutinised it at length while cautioning
themselves and being mindful of the conditions regarding the evidence
of a single identifying witness set out in Abdulla Nabulere & Anor vs.
Uganda, Cr.App No. 9/78, before rightly agreeing with the trial judge
that the appellant was properly identified by PW2.
Counsel further submitted that the learned trial judge had analysed the
evidence and demeanour of the appellant which was corroborative
evidence to PW2’s evidence regarding the appellant’s participation in
the commission of the offence. In addition, the evidence of fleeing by
the appellant from the arresting officers was also corroborative. He
relied on the case of Sewanyana Livingstone vs. Uganda, Cr.App No.
19/2006(SC) and R vs. Manilal Ishwerlal Purohit (1942) 9 EACA 61
in support of his submissions.
Regarding failure by the prosecution to call the arresting officer as a
witness, counsel submitted that the evidence of arrest was not the only
piece of evidence the prosecution needed to corroborate the evidence of
PW2. He argued the fact that that the arresting officer did not testify,
did not adversely affect the prosecution case against the appellant as
the lower courts found. Moreover, the record shows that both parties
had consented that the issue of arrest was not in contention.10
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Counsel however conceded that the evidence of the officer who
conducted the identification parade and the identification report was
not produced in court, but contended that the omission did not
occasion a miscarriage of justice to the appellant. He argued that the
identification was merely carried out as a matter of course. PW2 in her
mind had a clear appearance of the person who ravished her and that
was why she easily picked the appellant out of the five participants.
Lastly, Counsel asserted that the trial judge did not rely on hearsay
evidence to convict the appellant as alleged by the appellant’s counsel,
neither did the learned Justices of the Court of Appeal in arriving at
their decision. Therefore, this ground lacked merit and it ought to fail.
Ground two: Sentence
Ms. Wakabala submitted that although this ground was not raised in
the Court of Appeal, nonetheless, it raised an important issue and
prayed that this court considers it. In support of this submission, she
relied on the case of Euchu Michael vs. Uganda Criminal Appeal
No.54 of 2000 (SC).
Counsel argued that the testimony of PW3 was based on hearsay
evidence which could not affect the appellant since PW2 was the only
complainant and no other woman had brought the charge of rape
against the appellant. She further contended that in passing the
sentence, the trial judge did not consider the fact that the appellant
was a first offender but was influenced by PW3’s statement that the
appellant was a “serial rapist” which biased the trial judge’s mind and
misled him to hand out an illegal sentence based on hearsay. Counsel5 faulted the learned Justices for upholding the decision of the trial judge
based such evidence.
In the alternative and without prejudice to her prayers in ground one,
counsel invited this Court to set aside the sentence and substitute it
with a lawful and lenient sentence of 12 years based on the mitigating
10 factors that were raised by the appellant before court.
Mr. Okello supported the decision of the Court of Appeal and argued
that the issue of illegality of sentence was not raised in the Court of
Appeal and as such the same is irregular before this Court. He further
submitted that although the appellant did not appeal against sentence
15 in the Court of Appeal, nonetheless, the learned Justices addressed it
and found that the sentence was neither illegal nor irregular and
confirmed it.
Counsel further contended that in passing the sentence, the trial judge
did not refer to the appellant as a serial rapist nor did he base his
2 conviction on that fact as alleged by the appellant’s counsel, The
allegations of bias are therefore farfetched and should not be
entertained by this Court.
Regarding irregularity, counsel submitted that the trial judge took into
consideration the fact that the appellant was a first offender and given
2s that the maximum penalty for the offence of rape is death, he sentenced
him to 30 years imprisonment. Therefore, there was no irregularity
regarding the appellant's sentence.
Counsel further contended that this ground hinges more on evaluation
of evidence which has been fully addressed in the first ground and
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Court should consider his response under that ground in determining
the issue of sentence.
Counsel prayed that this ground should also be disallowed and the
appeal dismissed.
Consideration of the grounds by Court.
The above arguments of counsel raise the issue of the role of a second
appellate court. This is not a new point. It is an issue which has
received judicial consideration in several cases that have come before
this Court including Kifamunte Henry vs. Uganda, Cr. Appeal No. 10
cof 1997 (SC) and Bogere Moses & Kamba vs. Uganda Criminal
Appeal No. 1 of 1997, (SC), to the effect that except in the clearest of
cases where the Court of Appeal has failed in its duty, this Court as a
second appellate court, is not required to re-evaluate the evidence like
a first appellate court. Further, it is also settled that the Supreme
Court, when considering a second appeal, will not interfere with the
concurrent findings of fact by the lower courts, unless there is no
evidence to support them (See: Nyanzi vs. Uganda [1999] EA 228
followed in Bwefugye Patrick And Anor vs. Uganda, Criminal
Appeal No.52 of 2016{unreported). We shall follow these principles in
determining the two grounds of appeal.
Ground 1: The learned Justices of the Court of Appeal erred in law
by failing to adequately re-evaluate all material evidence relating
to the uncorroborated evidence of PW1.
‘The complaint in this ground is that the learned Justices of the Court
of Appeal failed to adequately re-evaluate all material evidence relating
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to the uncorroborated evidence of PW2 and thereby arrived at a wrong
decision.
We have carefully perused the record of proceedings and read the
judgment of the Court of Appeal particularly in respect of evaluation of
evidence. We have also considered the submissions by learned counsel
and the authorities relied on. We note that the three grounds raised
before the Court of Appeal were that:
1. The learned trial Judge erred in fact and in law when he
convicted the appellant basing on evidence of a single
identifying witness without it being corroborated.
2. The learned judge erred in fact and in law when he failed to
adequately consider the circumstances under which the
appellant was arrested simply because there was no
contention about it.
3. The learned trial judge erred in law and in fact when he
failed to adequately evaluate the entire evidence and as a
result came to a wrong conclusion.
In their judgment, the learned Justices, first of all summarised the
background facts of the case and the submissions of counsel, Before
delving into the resolution of the appeal, the learned Justices reminded
themselves of their duty as a first appellate court under rule 30(1) (a)
of the Court of Appeal Rules, that is to re-appraise the evidence and
arrive at their own conclusion. Then they proceeded to handle all the
grounds of appeal together since they all hinged on the proper
evaluation of evidence and the handling of the evidence of a single
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identifying witness. They found, rightly in our view, that the critical
clement of the case was the issue of identification of the appellant as
the person who committed the offence.
The Learned Justices then re-stated the law and principles regarding
the evidence of a single identification witness as stated in Abdalla
Nabulere & Anor vs. Uganda Criminal Appeal No.9 of 1978 in the
following passage that:
“Where the case against an accused Person depends wholly or
substantially on the correctness of one or more identifications of
the accused which the defence disputes, the judge should warn
himself and the assessors of the special need for caution before
convicting the accused in reliance on the correctness of the
identification or identifications. The reason for the special caution
is that there is a possibility that a mistaken witness can be a
convincing one, and that even a number of witnesses can be
mistaken. The judge should then examine closely the
circumstances in which the identification came to be made
particularly the length of time, the distance. the light, the
familiarity of the witness with the accused. All those factors goto
the quality of the identification evidence. If the quality is good,
the danger of a mistaken identity is reduced but the poorer the
quality the greater the danger.
When the quality is good, as for example, when the identification
is_made after a long period of observation or in satisfactory
conditions by a person who knew the accused before, a court can
safely convict even though there is no other evidence to support
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the identification evidence, provided court adequately warns itself
of the special need for caution.” ( the underlining is added for
emphasis)
The learned Justices rightly pointed out that:
“In dealing with the evidence of identification by a single witness
in criminal matters, the starting point is that the court ought to
satisfy itself from the evidence whether the conditions under
which the identification is claimed to be made were favorable or
were difficult, and to warn itself of the possibility of mistaken
identity,”
After evaluating the evidence, the learned Justices came to the
conclusion that:
“On the facts of the instant case all the conditions favouring
correct identification are present. The incident was at 10.00 am
in broad daylight. The appellant and PW2 spent a long time
together talking and then a struggle ensued. All this time the
victim was very aware of the person who was trying to rape her.
During this time the hat he was putting on fell off and his face
was fully exposed. He went ahead to rape her. There is no basis
for saying that identification was poor. All the conditions
favoured correct identification much as the victim had never met
the appellant before.”
Regarding the identification parade, the Learned Justices stated
correctly, that:
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“... Identification Parades are held as a means of corroborating
the identification claim made by a witness. As a matter of fact
there is overwhelming evidence that the appellant was properly
identified at the scene. It would be an affront to justice to acquit
him...
We are therefore convinced by the authority above that indeed
failure to observe one or two of them does not render the
identification a nullity because there was overwhelming evidence
Pointing to the guilt of the accuse.”
The learned Justice of the Court of Appeal also addressed the
appellant's contention regarding the failure to call the arresting and
investigating officers as witnesses and we share their view that
although:
“It would have been proper to call the arresting and investigating
police officers to testify but their failure to testify would not have
been fatal to the case as there was other sufficient evidence
available that the trial judge appropriately considered and
reached a decision we find correct”.
The Court of Appeal based the above conclusion on the decision of the
Supreme Court in Alfred Bumbo vs Uganda, Criminal Appeal No.28
of 1994 which vs. followed in Okwonga Anthony vs, Uganda SCCA
No. 20 of 2000 reported in [2000] KALR 24, in which it held:
“While it is desirable that the evidence of a police investigating
officer, and or re-arrest of an accused person by the police, should
always be given where necessary, we think that where other
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evidence is available and Proves the prosecution case to the
required standard, the absence of such evidence would not, as a
tule, be fatal to the conviction of an accused Person. All must
depend on the circumstances of each case whether police evidence
is essential, in addition, to prove the charge. In the instant case
we are satisfied that the absence of Police evidence did not weaken
the prosecution witnesses and from the appellants unsworn
statements clearly indicating how and when they were arrested.
Other evidence also clearly proved the prosecution case.”
In this case, we agree with the learned Justices of the Court of Appeal
that although the officers Were not called to testify, there was other
evidence which proved the prosecution case. We also note that the
appellant at trial did not challenge the narrative of the victim regarding
his arrest and his identification. The appellant confirms part of the
evidence of PW2 when he narrated that:
“Late that evening, we were called for another identification
Parade, we were 5 suspects as said by PW2, and then I was
surprised when PW2 pointed at me as her rapist...”
This corroborates the evidence of PW2 as to his identification at the
identification parade that was carried out at the Police station, that she
identified the appellant twice with his shirt on and without it. Therefore,
the failure to call the officer who conducted the identification parade
was not prejudicial at all to the prosecution case as was rightly found
by the Justices of the Court of Appeal.
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Further, on the question of arrest the record of proceedings also
indicates as follows:
“Resident State Attorney: The counsel for the accused says the
arrest of the accused is not in contention.
Kamuganda: It is true we are not disputing the circumstances of
the accused’s arrest.”
Thereafter, the learned Resident State Attorney closed the case for the
prosecution. This in our view explains why the state did not call the
arresting officer. The lower courts were therefore right to find that there
was no contention regarding the appellant’s arrest. Rather, the
contention was on the appellant’s participation which the victim PW2
had vividly described in her testimony.
As stated earlier, there is no law that prohibits a conviction based on
the evidence of a single identifying witness, except that the court must
take the greatest care to eliminate the possibility of mistaken identity
especially when the conditions for identification were difficult. Where
conditions were unfavorable for correct identification what is needed is
other evidence pointing to the guilt of the accused in order for court to
be satisfied that it is safe to convict. See: Abdulla Nabulere (Supra)
and Lutwama David vs. Uganda Cr.App. No.4 of 2003 (SC)
In addition, we wish to point out that the law is clear. Under 8.133 of
the Evidence Act cap. 6, there is no particular number of witnesses
required to prove any fact. The section reads as follows:
“133, Number of witnesses15
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Subject to the provisions of any other law in force, no particular
number of witnesses shall in any case be required for the proof of
any fact.”
Courts may therefore determine and base a conviction on the evidence
of a single identifying witness.
As the two courts below rightly found, there are a number of factors
which give credence to the victim’s story. Both parties were never
acquaintances but this does not mean she could not identify her
attacker given that, the time of commission of the offence was in broad
day light and there was a long struggle between the parties. The offence
was therefore committed face to face. The time lag between the
commission of the offence and the identification at the identification
parade was short, so the memory of the accused was fresh in the
victim’s mind. These in our view gave the victim a great opportunity not
to be mistaken as to the identity of her assailant.
The record further shows that the learned trial judge critically
considered the demeanour of the witnesses during trial and found that
PW2 was a truthful witness. He also made a critical analysis of the
circumstances under which the victim was able to identify the accused.
The law is that the trial judge must adopt the impression on the
demeanour of the witness by testing it against the evidence given by the
witness in the case as a whole. See: Livingstone Sewanyana vs.
Uganda No. 19 of 2006 (SC). In this case, the trial judge did so.
In the circumstances, even if there was no evidence corroborating the
evidence of PW2 as alleged by counsel for the appellant, which is not
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the case, the trial judge still rightly based his conviction on her evidence
as a truthful witness after observing her when she testified before him
in court.
Lastly, we also note that the case of Oketcho Richard vs. Uganda
(supra) which Counsel for the appellant relied on, is distinguishable
from this case. As stated earlier, it is true that court will draw an
inference that the evidence of uncalled witnesses would have tended to
be adverse to the prosecution case in circumstances where the evidence
before it is inadequate. In the Present case, the whole case hinges on
the victim’s identification of the appellant which evidence in our view is
firm and cogent. The circumstances of correct identification were not
difficult at the material time of the offence, she picked him out twice in
the identification parade and this is further corroborated by evidence
of PW3 and DW1 who confirm that he was identified by her.
We are therefore satisfied that the learned Justices of Appeal properly
evaluated the evidence on record and came to the right conclusion that
the evidence of identification of the appellant was sufficient and the
failure to call other witnesses did not adversely affect the prosecution
case.
This ground fails, accordingly.
Ground Two: The learned Justices of the Court of Appeal erred in
law when they upheld an illegal sentence of the lower court which
was reached basing on hearsay evidence.
The law is clear and settled. Unless the trial court in exercising its
discretion came to a wrong sentence, an appellate court will not
1925
interfere with the sentence imposed by the trial court. This legal
principle was stated in the case of Kiwalabye Bernard vs. Uganda
(supra).
Although this ground was not raised in the Court of Appeal, counsel for
the appellant contended that it raised an important legal issue which
warranted consideration by this court. Counsel relied on the case of
Euchu Michael vs. Uganda (supra) where this Court considered a
ground that had not been raised in the lower court on the basis that it
raised an important legal issue. In that case, the appellant had raised
the ground that the learned Justices of Appeal had erred in law in
upholding the decision of the trial Judge where the Judge had erred by
arriving at a conclusion that the prosecution had proved beyond
reasonable doubt that the appellant had participated in the murder of
Emolu, the deceased, before considering the defence of alibi, that the
appellant had put forward. Court allowed the ground to be argued
because it raised an important point of law.
In the instant case, we find no important legal issue that has been
raised in this ground, therefore, the case of Euchu Michael (Supra)
does not apply. We further agree with counsel for the respondent that
the reasoning of the trial judge was misconstrued. As he rightly
submitted, the learned trial judge did not base the appellant's
conviction on the evidence of PW3 but on the evidence of the victim and
the circumstances of identification which in our view was proper.
Secondly, we find that the trial judge took into consideration all the
mitigating factors raised by the appellant in arriving at the sentence. In
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Particular, he considered the fact that the appellant was a first offender
and exercised leniency as pleaded by the appellant. He also weighed
this against the aggravating factors especially the advanced age of the
victim, the humiliation and the HIV positive status of the appellant.
Thereafter, he exercised his discretion and convicted the appellant to
30 years for an offence that carries a death penalty under section 124
of the Penal Code Act. This, in our view was a border line case which
could have even attracted a sentence of life imprisonment. We find that
30 years imprisonment was actually very lenient considering the
seriousness of the offence which the appellant was convicted of
In the premises, we find that the sentence was lawful and we find no
Teason to interfere with the exercise of that discretion by the lower
courts. For the foregoing reasons, this ground also fails.
In the result this appeal is accordingly dismissed.
Dated at Kampala this Aa
filet ——_t
(ON. JUSTICE KATUREEBE
CHIEF JUSTICE
HON. JUSTICE KISAAKYE
JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT
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HON. JUSTICE ARACH-AMOKO
JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT
HON.JUSTICE OPIO-AWERI
JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT
HON. JUSTICE TIBATEMWA- EKIRIKUBINZA
JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT
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